Ever since the discovery of bar soap, inventors are trying to develop a soapbox that can drain, dry and store the soaps without any wastage. Traditionally, soapboxes are designed to have short ribs, raised ridges, dowels, grills or racks to support the wet bar soaps above the floor of the soap box/dish.
In almost all the cases, the bars which support the bar soaps are flat, rectangular or circular in cross-section and they are not efficient to drain the water away from the wet soap surface. Water sticks to the bottom surface of the soap between the bars and slowly soaks the outer layer of the soap surface.
Most of the conventional soapboxes are designed to support soap bars in the horizontal position and due to the lack of any slope, water is retained on the top surface of the soap and this water slowly soaks the top surface of the soap. When the top surface of the soap is soaked, a thin film of soapy paste will be formed which in turn will retain some more water and damage the soap further.
Some of the designs like U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,253,752 and 5,232,189 employed the concept of inclined supporting members to support the wet soaps but these supporting members are too far apart to restrain the soap in position without falling between the members and touching the floor of the container. When the soap touches any part of the soap dish, the water will be trapped between the surfaces and the soap starts absorbing the water and starts to dissolve. Moreover, these designs were developed for the soap dishes to be supported on the walls or showerheads with elaborate system and are not adaptable for the compact boxes. The inventor did not find any patents that utilize the inclined supporting structure for the compact soapboxes.
In most soapbox designs, the space between the wet soap and the floor of the container is not designed to adequately drain the soapy water collected from the soap. Some of the containers are provided with small holes or narrow slots but they are not effective when the inverted top cover is placed under the bottom dish. Additionally, these holes or slots help the soapy water to escape from the box and create a mess during the storage stage. Apart from this, a large surface area of the soap touches the bottom of the perforated container and the water will thus be trapped between soap and the box bottom. When the wet bar soap touches any other surface, water will be retained between the surface and the soap. This retained water will be absorbed by the soap to form a soft paste.
Most soapboxes are not designed to tolerate any accidental overfill and when the shower water fills the box, the water will submerge the soap and destroy the soap.